Thursday, November 06, 2014

Hi there! I wanted to share more images with you from this year's trip to Santa Fe. The sights on the street are as visually exciting as the art in the museums. This is a city with a technicolor heart!

On our way out of the hotel one morning, we stopped to peak in a courtyard next door. I am always pleasantly surprised by what I find. I love the play of light and shadow on the wall.

The iron gates are exquisite.

On another street, we happened upon a pottery shop. This sunlit window caught my eye.

Art rises from the concrete and peaks out from the brush. I discovered this street mural across the street from the bus depot.

The doorway to Pasqual's beckons with the promise of tasty delights within.

Magnificent hand blown glass catches the afternoon sun.

Richly colored woven textiles and aging architecture are a lovely combination in the late afternoon light.

Lively music pours from the Coyote Cafe, day and night. I sure wouldn't want to live above it!

Beautifully textured hand-woven rugs grace the walls at Marigold's Canyon Road Studio. "You don't have to be afraid to use them!," she assures us.

Santa Fe seems to be perpetually in bloom through Spring, Summer and Fall. The flowers are not about to be upstaged by the art!

I love the ceramic sculptures. If I could afford one, I'd put it in my garden.

Thursday, February 06, 2014

It's time for Paint Party Friday again, and for a change, I'm early! I have another acrylic abstract painting for you.

Third Floor Walk-Up

12" x 16"

Fluid and Heavy Body Acrylics on Canvas Paper

There's another one that I finished on Wednesday entitled Passion Flower. You can see it and my step by step photos here. I hope all of you had a wonderful week, and if not, I hope you will have a peaceful weekend. We'll meet here again soon!

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

It has been a harsh winter in Pennsylvania, to say the least. I'm looking at a snow-covered landscape with a generous helping of ice. Icicles hang like daggers from the trees. Their branches are bowed to the ground as if even they are mourning their sad state of afairs. Many of the surrounding towns are without power. Blessedly, the lights are still on in the studio, and I turned up the heat with my new abstract painting.

Passion Flower

12" X 12"

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

After the chaos of my last painting, I needed to spend an hour restoring my studio to order. Here, you can see the calm before the next storm. Somehow, it never lasts. I guess it's a metaphor for life.

I sectioned off my paper using a pastel pencil. Working intuitively, I used acrylic paints, both heavy bodied and fluid. I tried not to think too much as I worked.

It took about two hours to get to this stage. I guess I gave it more thought than I intended. It was a good time to stop, and let it simmer.

This morning, I approached the work with fresh eyes. I used a palette knife to add the final details.

Time to start a new work! I seem to accomplish more when the weather is bad. If this logic holds out, I should be able to create a whole series by Sunday. There's a monster of a storm heading our way and threatening to dump 30 to 40 inches of fresh snow. As usual, Morgantown appears to be directly in the cross-hairs. Stay tuned for the further adventures of your intrepid Pennsylvania artist!

Monday, February 03, 2014

As I gaze out my window at yet another snow storm, I find myself dreaming of Maine. Since dreaming is the only way I can get there right now, I'll have to settle for Maine in mixed media.

Harbor Dreams

24" x 24"

Mixed Media on Canvas

This folk-style mixed media painting was inspired by the work of British mixed media artist, Mike Bernard. After discovering his work by chance on the internet, I visited his website. I was thrilled to learn that he wrote a book entitled Collage, Color and Texture in Painting. I wasted no time in ordering it, and I found it to be a gold mine of inspiration and information.

Mike's work leans toward the abstract, but it has definite roots in realism. I would like my next painting to be less folk and more abstract. Either way, the process is fairly straightforward.

My substrate (surface) is a pre-primed heavy duty, gallery-style canvas. I began with collage utilizing newspaper, magazines, brown paper, and mulberry paper. My adhesive is matte medium. I deliberately left some areas uncovered to give the effect of light coming through.

I combined Golden fluid acrylics with Liquitex matte glazing medium and began to paint the first layer. As I learned from Mike's book, it is best to confine your main color choices to two or three colors. It will make the finished work more cohesive. diluted the paint with water and allowed it to run down the canvas to create more movement and texture.

I applied white acrylic paint in some areas to create light. I abandoned the brush for this step and used a palette knife to scrape the paint over the canvas.

I applied more paint began cutting pieces for the windows. This is where I think I fussed a bit too much. Next time, I'll eliminate some of the detail.

Using my palette knife, I began layering paint and scraping at it with the knife for texture. Adding a bit of detail I couldn't resist, I cut out numerous shapes from color magazine pages for the lobster buoys.

I added tree trunks and branches with the knife, and collaged and painted the boats in the water. I also painted the pilings under the dock.

Next I cut thin strips of paper to form the lobster cages. I painted in the details with a liner brush and fluid acrylic. I tore bits of magazine pages to form the foliage on the trees.

Finally, I added texture and detail using oil pastels.

I'm already planning my next painting! I hope this was fun for you to follow along. If you have any questions, email me and I'll try to answer them for you. Thank you for joining me and I'll see you again soon!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

I spent the day finishing up a painting as the snow fell today. It is an abstracted rendition of a sunset in South Dakota. As I was placing the last brush strokes, the name for my abstract sunset painting came to me. Like the loved ones who have passed before us, the memory of this sunset is something I will never forget. Beauty such as this lives in the heart forever.

Gone But Not Forgotten

24" x 30"

Acrylic on Canvas

I'm sorry I don't have a step by step for you. I became so engrossed in this one, I didn't stop to photograph the process. I hope your week is going well.

Friday, December 06, 2013

It's been a busy week here at Comfort Cottage. I've started decorating for Christmas, and today I put up the tree. Actually, "putting up the tree" was more like guerrilla warfare in a fake pine forest. I have a seven and a half foot tree that has to be assembled branch by branch - all 91 of them. When I was about halfway up the tree, I discovered I had skipped a row. I spent the better part of two hours repositioning the branches. It wasn't pretty. By the time I had finished, my arms looked as if I had gone ten rounds with the cat in a dark closet. No worries - it was all worth it...wasn't it?

After the Christmas tree debacle, I headed for my studio to work on a painting. I've been struggling with this one. I'm not sure that it's finished, but I'll share it with you anyway. It's another mixed media abstract painting inspired by my travels out west.

I drew in basic shapes with a pastel pencil and blocked in the sections. I wasn't too concerned with color at this point. I just needed a rough underpainting.

I used cut up magazine pages and acrylic matte medium to collage the main area.

I applied course pumice gel with a palette knife between the sections.

Next I worked the side sections with the knife edge of a flat brush, blending colors on the palette.

The top was worked in mixes of cobalt blue, quinacradone red, pthalo blue and white. I worked the lower sections with a palette knife for a contrast in texture. The colors were mixed right on the canvas. I added layers of glazes to the collaged area to create depth.

I echoed the top section with a small area to the lower left. This also helped balance the small section midway up the right side. I based in the pumice with black. At this stage I stepped back again. The pumice area needed work. The black looked quite dead. The lower branch of it also seemed to lead the eye right off of the canvas.

I pulled some colors from the top section to lighten it up. I dry brushed over it with irridescent pearl.

Now, remember that lower branch of the pumice area that was drawing the eye downward? I needed to find a way to draw it to the left. I extended the small blue/lavender section on the left side. I added some dark tones underneath of it to ground it to the canvas. Next, using small touches of bright red, I applied accents to catch the attention and help move the eye around the canvas. As I look at this on the screen, I notice that I've lost the highlight portion at the top on the collaged area. Back to the easel!

That's it for today. Tomorrow, I'll make some Christmas cookies and noodle some ideas for my next painting. Have a wonderful weekend. I'll be linking this post to Paint Party Friday.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

I have had a partially painted canvas on the easel for about two months now. I began painting with the idea that it would be an acrylic work. After the initial laying down of paint I was stuck. I grew tired of looking at it yesterday and I decided to scrub the plan. Some pages of old magazines ignited the tiniest flame. I began cutting out tiny squares from these pages and laying them over the paint with matte medium. What started as a spark, developed into a bonfire of activity. By late this afternoon, I had a completed mixed media abstract painting.

Dakota

24" x 24"

Mixed media on Canvas

I followed a rather circuitous route to completion. You can see evidence of my initial intention and the beginnings of a new direction.

I cut hundreds of tiny pieces that became a mosaic of sorts.

Following hours of work, the area was covered.

I added glazes over the collaged area to unify it.

Now, something needed to be done about the middle ground - that green just wasn't making it. The area also needed some texture. The lower area of the photo is where I focused my attention. I smeared a thin layer of pumice gel across the lower border of the collaged area. I tore some paper strips and attached them with matte medium underneath. I decided to paint the area in a neutral color. Then, I decided to sleep on it before proceeding. The following morning, I worked the upper half of the painting with a combination of fluid acrylics, heavy body acrylics, and matte medium.

I used more muted tones for the lower third of the painting. I worked over the neutral area pulling colors from the collaged section. This painting definitely took on a life of its own.

All in all, it's been a productive couple of days! I will be linking this post to Paint Party Friday and Pink Saturday. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and we'll meet again soon.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

I finished mandala number two for Dion Dior's Mastering Twinks workshop, and yes, it is definitely rounder! I slowed down quite a bit during the drawing process and eyeballed the intervals between sections a little more carefully. I avoided the temptation to use a ruler, and I'm much happier with my latest attempt.

I used Winsor and Newton watercolors in quinacrodone gold and perylene maroon to paint the background.

I let it dry, and then sprayed with matte fixative to keep from reactivating the watercolors when I painted the design with the Twinkling H2Os (twinks). I penciled in the design first, and went over it with a black Sakura Pigma Micron pen, size 05. Next, I began adding color with the twinks. I used nutmeg for the first section, and shaded it with chestnut.

I painted the center star in Mediterranean blue and the points in between in golden opal. Over top of the brown section, I used deep coral and shaded with poppy red.

The next teardrop shapes were painted in golden opal, deep coral, and nutmeg. I painted the small circles with Mediterranean blue.

Going back to the center, I painted the sections around the golden opal points with poppy red. I wanted the white areas to be really bright, so I started with a layer of titanium white Golden fluid acrylic. After it dried, I painted over those sections with the twinks in heavenly white. I added another row of deep coral teardrops.

I shaded inside of the row of deep coral teardrops with strokes of poppy red. Then I added more strokes of color to the outside sections.

Using a white gelly roll pen, I added highlight strokes to some sections. I went over the black drawing lines again to strengthen them.

My choice of colors is giving away my excitement over our upcoming cross-country road trip. We will be returning to the Southwest, where I hope to gather more inspiration for my art from the towns and wild places of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. I'm going to be able to share more with you from the road this time. My hubby bought me a laptop so I can process my photos and share my experiences with you more easily. I'll be sharing the wildlife, the dirt and the reptiles as we go :) (Doesn't that sound delightful?) Maybe I'll even be able to share some art. Well, it's back to the drawing table for me. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

I am participating in Dion Dior's online workshop, Mastering Twinks. Our first assignment was to create a mandala. I think the idea with mandalas is to be guided by your inner creativity and not to try to control the outcome too much. For anyone who knows me, when it comes to my artwork, I can be a bit of a control freak! It was all I could do to keep my little paws off of the ruler as I was drawing. My mandala is more oblong than round, but it is definitely spirited.

I dampened the paper and painted in the background with Yarka pan watercolors. To prevent them from mixing with the twinks, I sprayed the background with Krylon Matte Spray to fix them.

I worked out the basic design in pencil and then went over it with a Sakura Pigma Micron brush pen.

I chose four colors of twinks, plus gold. After painting the design, I went over the black lines again with the brush pen. I used a charcoal pencil for the shading. I sprayed the painting once more with matte spray to fix the charcoal.